11th June 2009, Ribadesella

OK – from Camarinas, we are now in Ribadesella after having been in at Sada, Ares, Viveiro, Ribadeo and Gijon in between. Camarinas was very much as we remembered it – very easy going, very Galician (quite like Scotland with the plants / scenery / weather?) ; the marinero at the Club Nautico was the same guy as on the way down, great laugh and very tolerant of my gabbling attempts in Spanish / Galician. We had 2 nights at anchor when we arrived and then 6 nights on a pontoon before going back to anchor ready for an early start to Sada in the morning. While we were in Camarinas we walked through the town (past loads of traditional grain / store houses) out to the countryside and were amazed to see an old couple (looked very old.. anyway) ploughing their allotment – the woman was leading the donkey and the man was controlling the plough at the back end – just up and down , backwards and forwards in the heat of the day. We also managed to make radio contact with Martin in Loch Spelve (South Mull, Scotland) on the marine radio, which was great.

An early start at 06:45 (on the 29th May) saw us on our way to Sada, weather was fine and we made our way up the remainder of the Costa del Mort without incident. Arriving in Sada about 18:15 we went straight to the fuel berth and took on 160 litre of diesel, then onto a pontoon for the night. Sada is still a little expensive but we had bought a ‘Passaporte’ in 2007 which gave us a discount on a group of marinas including Sada and Viveiro (every little helps). Only staying the one night we sailed next day across the ria to Ares – we were having a cracking sail (first in a long while) but towards a bank of fog. So, radar on and continue while we can. At about 2 or 3 miles to go we radioed up Bob & Di on Sheer Fantasy to find out what they thought about continuing into the cold and miserable fog, and we all agreed that being so close it was worth a look before we head back to the warmer (?) Sada side of the ria. Well, just another half mile and there was Ares sitting in a lovely clear patch of sunshine – decision made – lets go in and drop the hook. We stayed on anchor there for 4 nights and enjoyed the lovely town. Although the marina (Club Nautico) is a friendly and nice place , we felt that it was a bit expensive and just stayed out on anchor – definitely a place to visit on a boat.

So another early start (06:45 again [ 3rd June]) and we were off to Viveiro, the weather was a bit overcast / drizzle & fog so we had the radar on until it lifted near Ferrol (which is a busy commercial / naval port) only about an hour and a half into the journey, so that wasn’t too bad. We carried on all the way to Viveiro and into the marina; Bob & Di stayed out and anchored off the beach because they were moving on the next day to Ribadeo. We wanted to stay longer because we like Viveiro, probably because it is another easy going Galician town and it feels comfortable there. I think it was about 17:30 when we got there after motor-sailing (again), and stayed for 2 nights.
We have found that the towns are quite difficult to capture in still pictures mainly because of the haphazard style (there is none…) of the way that the houses and streets have been put together. Things are too close to get a perspective on them with the camera that would give the viewer a good appreciation of the character of the old villages. (that said, we will still make a selection of photos to give you an idea of what we saw).

So, on the 5th June we leave at 07:00 for the trip to Ribadeo and sneak in before Bob & Di notice that we are there – but they must have heard the kettle being put on because as soon as that happened , they were on the radio to ask how we were doing (good hearing because they were at least a couple of hundred meters away…). Ribadeo was good because the last time there we only stopped while passing through and didn’t get a proper chance to look at the town, but it is another nice place and worth stopping at to explore. Three nights in the marina and loads of rain! However, that is now the end of Galicia and the next area will be Asturias. We’re watching the weather now more and more trying to see some pattern to it and get a rough guess on when would be good for moving further east and when might be good for crossing to France… but there is no pattern.. Even when we leave Ribadeo to go to Gijon the forecasters don’t manage to tell us that the 15 knots from behind (predicted by most) is really going to be 40 knots. Well, the sail to Gijon was even faster than we expected and with even less sail hoisted. At least the wind was from behind and slightly from the land so the swell was not as bad as it could have been in totally open water. Good to get some strong weather practice…. Gijon is another place that we only passed through quickly on the way out so now on the way back we can give it a recommendation (even though we only had 2 nights).

And here we are up to-date and in Ribadesella after expecting to have a gentle sail along the 30 miles from Gijon yesterday ( Wednesday 10th) with 10 knots for a broad reach – ended up motor-sailing into 2 – 3 knots on the nose…. But the scenery is magical, with the Picos in the distance (still with lots of snow) and real mountains and very green land (the Costa Verde). We didn’t come here at all in 2007 and are parked on the harbour / town wall with 3 meters of tide (ropes to adjust) running the Honda generator for power and enjoying the town (will try the Asturian speciality later – Sidra..).